The following is the 4th monthly (120 days) update on my attempt to lose weight and get healthier. Again, it’s a longer post than my “normal” daily post, so if your not “into” reading about “another person’s” diet (again!), I’ll understand if you stop here and come back another day. You’ve been warned!! Here goes… | |
(As in previous posts:) On September 16, 2019, I switched from my 18 days of “juice / blend” fasting / diet to an Intermittent Time Fasting (ITF) “Diet / Lifestyle”. My starting weight on 29 August, for the juice / blending fast was: 373lbs. My starting weight for the ITF was: 356lbs. My current weight (this morning) was: 318lbs. Basically, I’ve lost 55lbs from the end of August, 38lbs from the start of the ITF and 11lbs in the last 30 days. | |
The observant among you may (again) notice in the above chart I had seven(7) days where my calories-in exceeded my calories-out… This is double (per month) than I did in each of the first two months, so definitely off the wagon for the X-mas season / holidays. In the first three months, I was blowing my calories about once per week. This month it was almost twice and it wasn’t “based” on my “one-meal-all-you-can-eat” day. Again, it’s not a diet, per se, as much as it’s a lifestyle, so I’m happy to have been able to lose weight while eating and not working out. It seems, sometimes “life” just happens and I go with it. | |
As mentioned in my prior monthly updates, when I switched to the ITF, I also began using my FitBit (FB) to begin tracking my food and gauging my calories-in versus my calories-out. I’m not sure why, but the FB has set my calories-out “objective” at 3,800. The on-line BMR calculator I use said my initial BMR was roughly 2,370 calories. At my current weight (318lbs), my BMR is 2,239 – about 50 fewer calories lower / less than the prior month and 130 from the starting calories. This means I have to burn an additional measure of 1,550 calories during my waking hours to reach the FB objective. In any case, FB is showing my daily calories out for the last 30 days at 3,940 (about 230 calories less than prior month). By this reckoning, I am exceeding the FB calories (3,800) by 140 per day and my BMR by almost 1,700. Multiply this by 7 days in a week and we get 11,900 – which works out to about 3.4lbs per week of weight loss. My actual weight loss for the last 30 days is about 11lbs. Divided by 30 days and multiplied by 7 days is 2.57lbs per week of “actual” loss. So, the FitBit is either scoring my calories-out to high or I’m not inputting the calories-in correctly. I feel I am diligent about the input, but I may be underestimating the portions and therefore the difference still isn’t as great as the charts suggest. It is also still possible the difference is in both cals-in and cals-out. Finally, it may just be my body is not burning the calories at the “normal” rate (meaning my calories burned is lower than the heart beat is suggesting it should be because of my AFib). Basically, I’m saying the actual weight loss is about 1 pound less than what would be predicted by the FitBit calories burned… (Still, 11lbs in a month is pretty good!) | |
Anyway, the chart below shows I still have a calorie deficit of about 1,000 calories per day. That times seven(7) days is 7,000 calories. Divided by 3,500 calories (1 pound of human body fat) equals to 2 pounds of loss per week. My actual weight loss over the last eight weeks is 20lbs. Divided by nine(9) is 2.22lbs per week. This is roughly the same average weight loss per week as recorded at the end of four and eight weeks. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve lost 7lbs (3.5lbs per week) and over the last month (as mentioned above) 11lbs (2.5lbs per week). Again, the numbers are more reflective of weight fluctuation (gain and loss) due to the holidays than from progressive weight loss due to MITF. | |
The goal of my long-term weight loss is (remains) to drop 1.5 to 2 pounds per week. In theory, this will prevent the two worst parts of extreme weight loss: a permanent (and excessive) drop in BMR (which makes it easier to regain lost weight) and a large amount of floppy / saggy skin (pure vanity). It looks like I’m continuing my promising start from the first two months. | |
Equally important: how does it feel? So-so. I was very good in November and December in my daily jogging. I haven’t been very good since my 90-day update. Sometimes life got in the way and sometimes (most times), I was just “tired” (lazy). Is it noticeable? Yes. I’m not getting “fatter” in my normal areas (legs and hips), but I do seem to be getting a “little” bigger there. More importantly, I seem to be losing my chest and shoulder muscles and retaining – if not increasing – my stomach fat. My shirts “feel” looser, but they don’t really look looser. It’s hard psychologically to see the scale go down, but not see a bigger drop in clothes and photos. I have a nagging feeling I’m losing muscle and bone density instead of body fat. | |
Obviously, I’ve made no progress on my secondary goals (which remain): I am still working on my secondary goals going forward – smoothing out the “calories-in” numbers and to eat more healthy on my one-meal-a-day / all-you-can-eat day. If there is a silver lining to my cloud, it’s that I didn’t have a single OMAD opportunity when I over-stuffed myself to the point of feeling sick, as I did in my first month of the MITF. So, I am improving there, too. Slowly, slowly… | |
A final observation (again, pretty much the same as last month): although it is theoretically “impossible” to spot lose weight (or spot gain weight), I seem to be losing “size” in areas which correspond to my activity. My waist is not shrinking much, but my legs, ankles, shoulders and forearms “feel” like they are getting smaller to me. It’s not that big a deal, except it would be nice to imagine I was losing fat around my internal organs and not just legs and shoulders. Oh, well, time will tell… | |
PS: I went to Urgent Care for a pounding ear and then to my cardiologist about 10 days later. My weight at the Urgent Care was 30lbs heavier than my home scale on the day. Between that visit and the Cardiologist visit I lost 5lbs on my home scale. At the cardiologist’s office, I had lost 5lbs from the Urgent Care, but it was still 30lbs heavier than my home scale on the day. The bottom line is my home scale is probably 30lbs too light and I am 348lbs and not 318lbs. While this is mentally hard to take, it means my home scale is consistently incorrect and therefore reliable for showing weight loss (and gain), even when it isn’t showing my “medical” weight. | |
. | |
On This Day In: | |
2023 | A Little Advice On Blogging… |
Two Thoughts For The Holiday | |
2022 | What Do You See? |
2021 | Lite It Up |
Some Day (O-o-child) | |
2020 | No Answers Yet |
120 Day Health / Weight Update (Jan 2020) | |
2019 | Stationary Target |
2018 | And Firmly |
2017 | Nearer My Goal To Thee |
2016 | Relatively Simple Actions |
2015 | And Yet, You Did |
2014 | Difficult Learning |
2013 | Four Things To do |
2012 | When I Was Young… |
Emergence | |
Posts Tagged ‘Calories’
120 Day Health / Weight Update (Jan 2020)
Posted in ADF, Diets, Health, ITF, MITF, OMAD, Running, Workouts, tagged 120 Day Health / Weight Update (Jan 2020), BMR, Calories, Charts, Diet, Health, ITF, Jan 2020 BMR Chart, Jogging, MITF, Morning Weight: 318lbs, OMAD, Urgent Care, Weight Loss on January 16 2020 on January 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »
90 Day Health / Weight Update (Dec 2019)
Posted in Diets, Health, ITF, OMAD, Pictures, Running, Walking, tagged 17m 59s Pace, 90 Day Health / Weight Update (Dec 2019), AFib, Calories, Charts, Diet, Health, ITF, Jogging, Morning Weight: 329lbs., OMAD, Slogging, Weight Loss on December 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The following is the monthly update on my attempt to lose weight and get healthier. It’s a longer post than my “normal” daily post, so if your not “into” reading about “another person’s” diet (again!), I’ll understand if you stop here and come back another day. You’ve been warned!! Here goes… | |
(As in previous posts:) On September 16, 2019, I switched from my 18 days of “juice / blend” fasting / diet to an Intermittent Time Fasting (ITF) “Diet / Lifestyle”. My starting weight on 29 August, for the juice / blending fast was: 373lbs. My starting weight for the ITF was: 356lbs. My current weight (this morning) was: 329lbs. Basically, I’ve lost 44lbs from the end of August, 27lbs from the start of the ITF and 11lbs in the last 30 days. | |
The observant among you may (again) notice in the above chart I had three(3) days where my calories-in exceeded my calories-out… This is one less (per month) than I did in the first two months, so slightly better. Still, essentially it’s demonstrating that about every other “all-you-can-eat / anything-you-want” day, I blow my caloric allowance. I’m on a three day cycle, so this means about once a week I lose it. Interestingly, it’s not necessarily on the OMAD that I blow the calorie balance. It seems, sometimes “life” just happens and I go with it. | |
As mentioned in my prior monthly updates, when I switched to the ITF, I also began using my FitBit (FB) to begin tracking my food and gauging my calories-in versus my calories-out. I’m not sure why, but the FB has set my calories-out “objective” at 3,800. The on-line BMR calculator I use said my initial BMR was roughly 2,370 calories. At my current weight (329lbs), my BMR is 2,289 – (again) about 40 fewer calories lower / less than the prior month and 80 from the starting calories. This means I have to burn an additional measure of 1,510 calories during my waking hours to reach the FB objective. In any case, FB is showing my daily calories out for the last 30 days at 4,167 (about 200 calories less than prior month). By this reckoning, I am exceeding the FB calories (3,800) by 367 per day and my BMR by almost 1,800. Multiply this by 7 days in a week and we get 12,579 – which works out to about 3.5lbs per week of weight loss. My actual weight loss for the last 30 days is about 11lbs. Divided by 30 days and multiplied by 7 days is 2.57lbs per week of “actual” loss. So, the FitBit is either scoring my calories-out to high or I’m not inputting the calories-in correctly. I am diligent about the input, but I may be underestimating the portions and therefore the difference isn’t as great as the charts suggest. It is also possible the difference is in both cals-in and cals-out. Finally, it may just be my body is not burning the calories at the “normal” rate (meaning my calories burned is lower than the heart beat is suggesting it should be because of my AFib). | |
Anyway, the chart below shows I still have a calorie deficit of about 1,000 calories per day (for the last 2 weeks in Dec.). That times seven(7) days is 7,000 calories. Divided by 3,500 calories (1 pound of human body fat) equals to 2 pounds of loss per week. My actual weight loss over the last eight weeks is 18lbs. Divided by eight(8) is 2.25lbs per week. This is roughly the same average weight loss per week as recorded at the end of four weeks. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve lost 3lbs (1.5lbs per week) and over the last month (as mentioned above) 11lbs (2.75lbs per week). | |
The goal of my long-term weight loss is (remains) to drop 1.5 to 2 pounds per week. In theory, this will prevent the two worst parts of extreme weight loss: a permanent (and excessive) drop in BMR (which makes it easier to regain lost weight) and a large amount of floppy / saggy skin (pure vanity). It looks like I’m continuing my promising start from the first two months. | |
Equally important: how does it feel? Today I am almost done with 5 weeks (out of 6) of “slogging” (VERY slow jogging). My goal is to get to 3.2 miles per day and then begin dropping the time (slowly). I’ve been “pretty” consistent although I’ve been slipping lately (hence the “5 out of 6”). I’m mostly sticking to my goal of 3.2 miles per day, but yesterday I jogged 4.12 miles (one “extra” mile) and for the first time my overall pace was under 18 minutes at 17:59. Yes, just barely, but still under AND with the extra mile – so I’m pleased. I am planning to keep it to 3.2-ish miles per jog. This is just over 5K (3.11 miles), and now that I’m good with the distance, I still need to start to drop the times. When I (finally) get below 300lbs, I intend to add in some body weight exercises to improve my flexibility and strength. | |
As per my last two monthly reports: I am still working on my secondary goals going forward – smoothing out the “calories-in” numbers and to eat more healthy on my one-meal-a-day / all-you-can-eat day. I am still “abusing” the OMAD opportunity, but… during the last month, even though I was over my calories limit (“in” vs “out”) three times, I didn’t eat beyond feeling stuffed to the point of feeling sick on any of the three “overs”. So, I am improving there, too. Slowly, slowly… | |
A final observation: although it is theoretically “impossible” to spot lose weight (or spot gain weight), I seem to be losing “size” in areas which correspond to my activity. My waist is not shrinking much, but my legs, ankles, shoulders and forearms “feel” like they are getting smaller to me. At least my clothes feel more comfortable in those spots. As all I am doing for exercise is walking my dog and going for jogs, this makes sense, even though it contradicts all the “theory” of fat loss distribution I’ve ever read about (i.e. fat loss is supposed to be proportional across the entire body). It’s not that big a deal, except it would be nice to imagine I was losing fat around my internal organs and not just legs and shoulders. Oh, well, time will tell… | |
. | |
On This Day In: | |
2022 | Even If Only A Flicker |
2021 | Chocolate |
Never Knowing (Candle In The Wind) | |
2020 | In Passing |
Look A Little Bit Closer (The Tracks Of My Tears) | |
2019 | Especially Mine |
90 Day Health / Weight Update (Dec 2019) | |
2018 | And Some Never Do |
2017 | When We Know We Are Loved |
2016 | Good Acts |
2015 | Will You Be Leaving Soon? |
2014 | Just Long Enough |
2013 | R.I.P. – Tom Laughlin |
Seeking Success? | |
2012 | All Aboard |
2011 | Sail On, Sailor |
Day 5: Getting Easier
Posted in ADF, Diets, Health, Juice/Blend Fasting, Swimming, Walking, tagged 1/9, Average Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, Calories, Day 5: Juice/Blend Fasting, Dieting, Dog Walk, Down / Down, Eat Healthier, Eat Less, Excel, Health, MADF, Move More, No Swim, OCD on September 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The end of day five and the start of day six… Two more days to complete the first week of blend fasting. | |
Morning weight: 364lbs. (on Day 6) | |
I am down / down “1/9”. As in, 1lbs down from yesterday and 9lbs down from my fasting start weight: 373lbs (morning of Day 1). | |
I feel like I’m starting to get my second wind. I am feeling great in the mornings and try to do things and then get tired easily. All of this is normal until the fat burning really kicks in. I do feel like I’m already getting thinner and (like I said) feeling better / healthier. Part of it is purely psychological as I can see the goal – of completing week one – now clearly in sight. I will wait until I see how I feel on day seven to decide if I’m going to the modified alternate day fast (MADF) or if I stick to the juice blend for some additional time. Last year, I did my week and then kept going for almost seven weeks (41 days). I pretty much said: “Let’s go for two weeks and then day to day.” Which is what I ended up doing… | |
I was planning to go for a swim in the evening, but when we drove by around 6pm, the pool was still packed with families. My local homeowners association has two BBQ’s a year: one for Memorial Day and one for Labor Day. The are used to mark the “official” open and closing of the pool season. At the discretion of the association board the pool can be opened earlier and stay open longer. Last year (2018), we opened at the start of May. This year, almost at the start of April. Last year, we closed after Halloween. This year it looks like the end of September. We are hoping to resurface the pool (after 20 years), and the Board wants the pool closed as soon as our permit clears to make sure we are able to open on time next year / season. | |
My point about the families being I don’t like to swim laps when it’s crowed because folks want to have fun with their kids and I’d be tying up a whole lane just for my laps. So, no swim, but I did get in my 30 minute dog walk. C’est la vie… | |
My hands, wrists, feet and ankles are consistently not bloated and my Blood Pressure is starting to consistently drop into the “good” range. I had my first 118 / 81 in quite a while. Not perfect, but much better than the 135+ / 85+ I’ve been registering lately. When I’m getting 115 / 75 in my morning reading, I’ll be happy. That’s a great number for any age, let alone 64, pushing 65 years old. My average resting Heart Rate is now down in the 50 / 51 per minute range. That’s down from the 55 / 65 is was for most of last month. I’m not a fully convinced believer in the maximum heart beats in a lifetime theory, but it seems oddly consistent across species, and I think it deserves more research. And, yes, I’m fairly OCD and measure my BP/HR two to three times a day. I was doing it religiously for several years (and charting them over time). I showed my Excel file and charts to my cardiologist and he said I need to chill out as this kind of compulsive behavior can result in increases to both BP and HR. That was a couple of years ago, now. I no longer chart the results and I mostly just do morning and before bed – and, maybe once or twice a week during the afternoon. | |
In some future post, I’ll try to explain what I mean by “eat less”, “move more” and “eat healthier”. For now, I’ll just say “eat less” doesn’t necessarily mean eating fewer calories… (more later!) | |
. | |
On This Day In: | |
2022 | True For All Arts |
2021 | Driving To Your Destiny |
Angels (Angel Of The Morning) | |
2020 | It Almost Certainly Will If #45 Is Re-elected |
Sssshhhh (The Sound Of Silence) | |
2019 | Deciding, Doing, Done |
Day 5: Getting Easier | |
2018 | Thought Experiments |
Day 38: Going Crazy | |
2017 | Which Did You Learn? |
2016 | Shape And Limit |
2015 | Me Either |
2014 | Just Business |
2013 | Beautiful Adventure |
2012 | Precedence |
2011 | Ya Think? |